Saturday, July 14, 2012

Kateri

Today, the Catholic Church in the United States commemorates
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha “The Lily of the Mohawks.” Born in what is now
upstate New York in 1656, she was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and an
Algonquin Christian mother. Four
years later, smallpox killed her family and left her with a scarred face and
weakened eyesight. She was adopted by her uncle, the new chief, and eventually
became especially talented at sewing beautiful beadwork.

In 1676, at age 20, she was baptized by French
Jesuit missionary, Fr. Jacques de Lamberville, and was given the name Kateri
after St. Catherine of Alexandria. While her uncle tolerated her new religion,
in July 1677 the hostility of her aunts and others in the village caused her to
flee – a two-months’ journey through 200 miles of wilderness - to the safety of
a Native American Christian settlement near Montreal. There, on Christmas 1677,
she received her First Holy Communion. On March 25, 1679, she made a vow of
chastity. While she continued to do beadwork, she cared for the children of the
community, tended the sick, and spent much time in prayer, becoming known for
her spirituality and austerity of life. Kateri wanted to start a convent for
native American sisters, but the poor health which plagued her throughout her
life led to her death at the age of 24, on April 17, 1680. Her grave quickly
became a pilgrimage site for Native American Christians and French colonists and
a purported place of miracles.

Two centuries later, in 1884, the cause of her
canonization was opened; and, in 1943, “Servant of God” Kateri Tekakwiktha was
proclaimed “Venerable.” In 1980, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha became the first
Native American (and also the first lay American) to be beatified. She is a
patron of environmentalists, exiles, and people who have lost parents, are in
exile, or are ridiculed for their piety. The Tekakwitha
Conference, an international association of Native American Catholics and
those in ministry with them, is named after her.

At the Consistory for the Creation of New Cardinals
in St. Peter’s Basilica on February 18 (at which I was privileged to be
present) Pope Benedict XVI announced that Blessed Kateri will be canonized a
saint on October 21 - during the forthcoming Year of Faith and the October
Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.

About Me

Rev. Ronald Franco, CSP, is a member of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (The Paulist Fathers) and Vice-Postulator for the Canonization Cause of Paulist Founder, Isaac Hecker. He is Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Knoxville, TN,